Former SEC Lawyer Comes Up With A Genius Excuse For Fraud And Escapes 20 Years

Robert Miller, a former lawyer for the SEC (and also a former
money manager) deserves a prize for his performance in court the
other day.

He just escaped a potential 20-year prison sentence by telling
the judge that he used to be a "fearful, self-loathing suicidal
alcoholic," says the Wall
Street Journal. He was just too drunk to realize that he was
participating in a fraud.

It's like he told his lawyer: 'No matter how drunk I was, I
wouldn't have" [done it had I known it was a fraud].

Now Miller won't have to spend anytime in jail. He will just have
to live under "supervised release" for 2 years.

This is amazing because Miller already plead guilty to conspiracy
to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and securities fraud in
November.

Apparently, entering a guilty plea was just Miller's laying the
groundwork, because here's how the judge saw it: She thought it
showed his immediate acceptance of his crime.

Here's the rest of the story about how he got out of it, starting
from the beginning.

Miller was paid $100,000 to work for Marc Dreier.

Dreier was the mastermind behind a huge scheme that, as NYMag puts it,
involved staging fictional conference calls, and impersonating
executives, sometimes personally, sometimes with the help of an
associate, all while snapping up Warhols and waterfront homes,
partying with pop stars and football players, and chasing an
endless parade of much-younger women.

Dreier pled guilty last year and really will have to spend 20
years in prison.

But Miller, the "associate" who helped Dreier, told the judge
that he only did it because he was a drunk. A drunk who was too
drunk too realize that he was participating in a fraud.

His lawyer explained to the judge: "If he had been aware this was
a bogus note, if he had known this was to deceive, he himself has
said, 'No matter how drunk I was, I wouldn't have" [done it],
Laufer said. "He just came apart at the seams."